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Groups Tell EPA Diesel Rule Cannot Wait

A broad coalition of clean air groups and truck manufacturers on Tuesday pleaded for an immediate end to delays by the Bush Administration in finalizing a rule to make heavy trucks and buses 95 percent cleaner by 2006.

The coalition asked EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman to make clear that the new administration did not intend to rewrite the agency''s diesel rule published in January.

"This could be the first big environmental test of Whitman and the entire administration," said Frank O''Donnell, executive director of the Clean Air Trust, an interest group.

President George W. Bush issued an order on his first day in office to block some last-minute executive orders and rules laid down by outgoing President Bill Clinton.

Bush also issued a 60-day delay on regulations that were published in the Federal Register -- including the diesel rule -- but had not yet taken effect.

Clean air activists said delays in the rule would extend health problems -- like asthma and lung cancer -- to more Americans which result from breathing air polluted by belches of smoke commonly seen from 18-wheeler highway trucks and city buses.

Manufacturers said they want the rule so they can plan for the future, and build cleaner machines to use cleaner diesel.

Environmentalists are wary of the Bush team''s approach to their causes, like clean air and protecting wilderness, but pointed out repeatedly that the diesel rule was supported by more than just green groups.

"The American Lung Association and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers never before have stood together supporting the same rule," said O''Donnell.

Late last year, the Clinton Administration released the diesel rule, aimed at cutting emissions from both diesel engines and the levels of harmful sulphur in the fuel.